Nearly everyone at one time or another has experienced the inconvenience and frustration of having male and female electrical connectors become disengaged while attempting to operate a hand-manipulated electrical appliance. Housewives operating a vacuum cleaner often experience the male connector at the end of the vacuum cleaner cord coming disengaged from a cooperating female connector of an extension cord or from the wall outlet. As another example, carpenters operating drills and/or circular saws at a construction job site often experience this same difficulty. This can be particularly disruptive to the effective completion of work in the latter situation where long extension cords are often utilized and the individual may have to, for example, climb down a ladder to reengage the connectors an then climb back up the ladder to return to the work area.
In many situations, carpenters and other individuals have resorted to tying the adjacent ends of electrical cords together to prevent disengagement of the connectors. While this procedure does prevent disconnection of the male and female connectors, it is not a very effective solution to the problem for a number of reasons. First, it is a relatively time consuming procedure. Second, the strain placed upon the electrical conductors in the cord through this tying over time leads to damage which at the very least could render the cord useless and in certain situations could potentially lead to a dangerous direct short. Third, it should also be appreciated that this procedure is not possible where the electrical cord is plugged directly into a wall outlet. Fourth, this procedure does nothing to improve the electrical connection between the male and female connectors.
Recognizing these and other problems, various devices have been developed for maintaining male and female electrical connectors in a connected condition. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,612 to Ryan discloses a hollow capsule including cooperating male and female halves. The male and female electrical connectors to be held together are placed in the cooperating halves which are then threaded together to tightly press the connectors together. While this device is effective in holding male and female connectors of two cords together, it must be appreciated that the device is relatively cumbersome and time consuming to utilize. The device is also not effective in holding an electrical connector in a wall outlet. Additionally, the device does not effectively improve the electrical contact between the connectors.
Another locking electrical connector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,681 to Hong. More particularly, the female contacts of the Hong patent each include a pair of moveable legs that may be wedged to press against a cooperating male contact and lock the two in a coupled position. While this device is effective in retaining male and female connectors together as well in improving the electrical contact between the connectors, it also suffers from a number of disadvantages. More particularly, the device does not include a locking male connector. Accordingly, the device is not in any way effective in retaining a male connector in a standard wall outlet: that is, not one constructed in accordance with the teachings of the Hong patent. Accordingly, the device disclosed in the Hong patent is of limited value to individuals using standard electrical outlets.
A need is therefore clearly identified for an improved electrical connector.